Give your players Guns

There is a game design phrase I heard a while ago called "The Myth of the Gun and the Myth of the Sword can't coexist". The Myth of the Sword is your power comes from you. The power you have is intrinsic to you. For example, Hulk from the MCU. I want to focus on the Myth of the Gun, where the items you carry is where you get your strength. An example would be Iron Man from the MCU. If the item breaks, you lose the power. Oftentimes monster hit all parts of the character sheet, from rust monsters attacking your equipment to ghouls taking your levels. Here is where the Myth of the gun shines as your players have to come up with creative solutions to be able to use their Guns.

 

This ties nicely into a old OSR tenet, "The answer is not on your character sheet". This isn't perfect as there is one part of the character sheet that you should look at and that's equipment. When I play dungeon crawlers and the situation starts to become more and more dire, the first place I and I expect most players to turn to their equipment, their Guns. Do we have a new light? Food to lure the monsters away? Weapons to fight with? Those questions are only answered by the Guns you carry and how you apply them.

From Wikipedia

 

The most distinct items are not the +1 swords or the dozen other "number go up" items. Instead they are the Rope of Climbing, the Flying Carpet or the Crystal Ball. They are tools that are weird and need planning before you get their full potential. The Crystal only lets you see one object, The rope has a weight limit and the Carpet gets slower based on how many passengers are on it. I feel that some GMs care about maintaining a realistic world and give few opportunities for their players to be badasses. I say let them. Items can break, be stolen, flat out have only a certain number of charges before you are out of luck. 

A fairy ring

Magic items in my setting are items that grow with power. I am inspired by my local Irish mythology and items have history as much as the people. The horse that rode into Tir Na Nog, The Salmon of Knowledge and the fairy rings are all items and places that are tools. These items are special and heroes in Irish mythology don't replace these. So, here are some magic items from my setting. 

 1d6 Magic Items from Cylen

  1. The Jotun Brass Engine  - Forged by the Giants before their great slumber, this slightly (rusted?) mossy machine is covered in metallic fungi that feel warm to the touch. It is a 4ft cube with a cylindrical hole in the middle. Items inserted get shot out (30 ft range) after an hour passes as the Giant's engineering does it's work. The items placed inside turn to wood (if they haven't been blown to bits). 
  2. Prince Seanan's Harp - This medium sized bronze harp with strings made of purple gold. Built for his husband's escape, the harp's tune is so enchanting all glass items gather around to listen to the tune up for (user's lvl) turns. Requires 2 people to carry it around. 
  3. Warding Badge of Her Divine - The badge has a picture of a swan sitting on top of 3 golden eggs on it. This glass badge with is mean for Warden Orflaith allows her to keep warriors away from becoming Fighters. It allows the wearer to see the footsteps of 1 target within hearing range (60 ft). 
  4. Tearsong Script - Yellow pages that smells like salt are empty. If someone's final tear is dropped onto the paper, the page will record everything the person's body hears even when the soul is elsewhere. Freed golems use these to stay hidden from their masters. 
  5. Promising Rings - Commonly made to wed fairies, these sliver, simplistic rings allow the user to jump twice as high (20ft if not known). You have to wait for the other person to stay on the ground for an hour before you can do it again. The rings notify each other when the ability is used. Commonly come in sets of pairs before the wedded couple climb their birth mountains. 
  6.  Memory Pole - Starscream was a curious Wizard. It stored it's memories into a wooden pole between hunts. The pole has 10 segments. Twist a segment and it will create a loud noise that scares most creatures. (Not Wizards, they have evolved past the need for hearing). Once all 10 segments are used, a light source has to go into each segment still lit to rekindle the memories of Starscream's humanity. 

I hope these items are a good jumping off point for ideas. I didn't want to lore dump so I tried my best to neatly fit my setting into these items. A lot of the setting came from misunderstandings about BX that I found funny and weird. 

"I don't like how it's watching me"

Clickables

Grinning Rat demonstrates why swords can't be trusted. 

Gnomestones defines grounded fantasy. 

Choir of Fire talks about the gift economy and tablefilling 

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